Untitled
by Apathy Is My Middle Name
Summary: James and Sirius get another chance at life, only weeks after Sirius’ death. Book 6 disregard. SBJP HPDM. Rating will go up. Romance, Drama, Angst, Hummor. Basically a bit of everything eventually
1. Chapter 1

Title: Untitled

Summary: James and Sirius get another chance at life, only weeks after Sirius' death. Book 6 disregard. SBJP HPDM.

A/N: I'm disregarding anything that was revealed in book 6 unless I make a particular reference to it. Also this is slash; if you don't like it, don't read it.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Harry Potter, any of its characters or ideas, just this story. If anybody knows where I can buy Sirius would they please tell me?

Enjoy!

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"I'm bored." Said Sirius; swinging his legs off the side table he was sitting on. "How long does it take the Guardians to process the recently deceased? I mean, I've been dead for about five minutes and I'm already bored, how have stuck it out this long? It's been fourteen bloody years. And where's Lily?" Sirius sighed in frustration. There were so many unanswered questions. He'd always thought death would bring some sort of clarity. Instead all he had was some more confusion and a lot of worrying about the people he had left behind. He looked at his companion, former lover and best friend.

"Usually not long, and I stuck it out until now because I had no choice. The Guardians told me when I got here that my 'earthly tasks have not yet been fulfilled' and that I just had to…wait until it was the right time to complete them. Lily already passed through the Final Gateway; apparently she'd done what she was supposed to. She died for the child she carried." James sounded bitter as he thought of the Lily and her ability to find Eternal Rest, while he had had to wait in Limbo for over an earth decade.

Limbo itself was not unpleasant; it looked like a rather large hotel, where people waited for their turn with the Guardians - ethereal creatures that decided your eternal fate. As far as James knew, the Guardians were neutral, and only really cared about each of 'spirits' achieving their own destinies, regardless of the effect on the Mortal Plane.

Suddenly a glowing orb materialised in front of the two friends. Several other people (well, spiritual manifestations) looked up as the orb began to pulsate with energy.

"I've seen this happen before. We have to touch it…it works kind of like a portkey, except it doesn't activate until everyone who needs to be touching it is." James explained quietly to Sirius. "I think it's waiting for us." Tentatively, they reached out and as their hands made contact with the orb a painless tingling ran throughout their bodies, intensifying with every second.

After a moment, the feeling dissipated, and James and Sirius materialised on the floor of a stone chamber lit by glowing torches that flickered with a blue flame.

"It is time to reveal your fates." The bodiless voice echoed around the room. A swirl of mist rushed past the now standing Sirius and James, circling in the air, before twisting into a tall, pale apparently male Guardian. Black leathery wings that provided a sharp contrast with the pale flesh stretched outwards, while a thin tail wrapped itself around the creature's body. The Guardian wore a simple toga style dress covered his body, floating mysteriously along the ground. He shook his mane of long, deep purple hair, and surveyed the people in front of him with glinting silver eyes.

James shivered at the sight of the Guardian, though he had seen them before, while Sirius looked on in fascination, his grey eyes glinting at the prospect of looking at the magnificent being before him.

"James Harold Potter and Sirius Orion Black, in one way or another, the lives you were meant to have were ruined by circumstances not of your own making. As a consequence, you will not be allowed to pass through the Final Gateway and into the Plane of Eternal Rest. Instead you will be returned to the Mortal Plane until the time of your deaths. It has been decided that as your lives were linked not only by fate, but by your own love," The Guardian paused for a moment, "that your physical representations should be returned to the Mortal Plane together, and that they should be of when your combined destiny ended, in your calendar that would be 9:15 pm, October 31st 1981."

The Guardian waved his hand in a complex motion, creating another glowing orb on his fingertips.

"Sending spirits back to the Mortal Plane as anything other than ghosts takes time and effort, luckily we have had almost fourteen years to prepare for this, so only a few final arrangements remain. You will be returned to your world by way of the Outer Gateway that Sirius Orion Black passed through in approximately two mortal months, that is, two mortal months from when Sirius Orion Black entered Limbo, though in our time it is only two days. This orb holds any information you might want on your resurrection. Also, and most importantly, when it glows with a blue light and emits a high pitched whistle, touch it in unison and the Council of Guardians will transport you back. Good Luck with your fates."

The Guardian disintegrated into silver mist, leaving the orb suspended in the air, glowing faintly red.

James turned to Sirius and asked, "Did you understand anything that was just going on?"

"I think we get to go back James, we get to go back to the real world."

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"Professor, there's a Ministry official who has apparently been waiting in the hall for over an hour to see you. The gargoyles wouldn't let him in." Said McGonagall as she entered the Headmaster's office; placing a long roll of parchment on the desk. "I need you to approve the list of next year's new students."

"I'll look it over, Minerva, please send the Ministry employee up on your way out." The witch nodded, recognising the dismissal, and left the office silently. A few moments later a knock resounded around the circular room, followed by the heavy oak door being pushed open and a short, skinny man in drab grey robes entering.

"Good morning Headmaster, I am Arnold Griggs with the Division for the Investigation of Weird and Unexplainable Occurrences. At approximately 8:27 this morning, two men who were previously assumed dead appeared in the Department of Mysteries. Since being taken into a secretive custody, they have repeatedly demanded to see you, and, as far as we can tell, they are who the claim to be and seem to pose no immediate threat to the security of the Wizarding world, we see no reason to deny their request. We would also like your assistance in confirming their identities." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the stuffy, almost rehearsed speech given by the Ministry official. Typical.

"Greetings Mr. Griggs, I would be happy to help the Ministry out, as they have always been so supportive to me." Griggs cleared his thought abashedly. "May I ask who are the gentlemen who have mysteriously reappeared?"

"Oh, well, they claim to be James Potter and Sirius Black." He replied, handing what looked like a picture of the twenty-one year old men dressed in Ministry work robes, only the magical date stamp was of that very morning.

Dumbledore moved surprisingly fast for a person of his age, heading straight towards his fire without another word, Griggs trailing behind, barely making it past the hearth and into the now green flames as the headmaster flooed to the Ministry building.

Not even stopping to check in his wand, Dumbledore proceeded straight to the floor where the Division for the Investigation of Weird and Unexplainable Occurrences (a subdivision of the Department of Mysteries) was located. He paused for a moment when he entered a hallway lined with several holding rooms, where he assumed the latest unexplainable occurrences were being kept as he waited for Griggs to show him which door to go through.

Griggs indicated the second door on the left, and Dumbledore strode through, sweeping the room in a quick glance before focussing on the room's only occupants.

James and Sirius were sitting quite close together at the metal table in the centre of the small room, their fingers loosely intertwined on the steel surface. They were whispering to each other, despite being alone and casting glances at the 'mirror' that covered one wall, a muggle-influenced two-way mirror.

They almost leapt up at the sight of their previous headmaster.

"Professor?" Asked James slowly.

"Are you really James Harold Potter?" He asked, James nodded and Dumbledore turned to Griggs. "Have they been questioned with Veritaserum?" Griggs replied the affirmative. "And they maintained the are James Potter and Sirius Black?" Griggs nodded again.

"Where is Minister Fudge?" Dumbledore asked. Griggs coughed and indicated the mirror. Dumbledore resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Minister, please come in now. A moment later Cornelius Fudge walked through the mirror, looking very put out that his 'secret' hiding place had been revealed (ignoring the fact that the two men in custody were previously Aurors and knew how holding rooms worked) He was followed by a man and a woman in Auror robes, the mirror rippled before returning to its previously solid states.

"Minister." Dumbledore greeted politely, "Are you willing to grant these men, if they are really Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, immunity for anything I may reveal in affirming their identities?" He asked, wasting no time with pleasantries, extracting exactly what he wanted with minimal effort as the Minister sputtered a 'yes, of course'.

"Gentlemen, I believe that an Animagus form can not be reproduced, if you will…" He indicated the floor space to his left with a wave of his arm.

"Wait a minute," Interrupted Fudge, who had apparently regained his bearings, "What do Animaguses have to do with anything." Dumbledore apparently didn't hear him and stepped back, allowing James and Sirius to stand in a large enough space to transform.

"_Animagi_ forms are impossible to replicate, and are one of the only types of magic that most wizards can do without a wand…not that most wizards can perfect an Animagus transformation. Me and James did, and that's what the headmaster is checking, whether or not we have the right Animagi forms."

James and Sirius stood a little way apart from each other, then proceeded to do what looked like a completely effortless metamorphosis in a gleaming white stag and a grim-like dog. The Minister, along with his two Aurors and Griggs leapt back in surprise, Dumbledore merely smiled.

"Minister, I fully believe that these men are indeed James Harold Potter and Sirius Orion Black. Do you concur?" Fudge nodded, though his gaze never left the stag that was shaking his head proudly or the dog that seemed to be grinning, displaying his dangerous teeth.

"I assume you can arrange for a reversal on the death certificates that have been issued." Dumbledore continued, while Fudge finally managed to draw his sights away from the Animagi.

"Yes, yes. Griggs, get on that."

"Minister, I'm sure you wont protest to these gentlemen being free to go, as they have commited no crime. I am sure you can understand that they want to see their families."

"Albus, there is the matter of Mr. Blacks Azkaban sentence-"

"Which I am sure you can compensate him for at a later date, as you anounced a month ago as being incorrect."

"Yes, I suppose I did. But what about them being Animaguses, it's illegal, you know." He said matter of factly.

"You granted them immunity when I entered the room, I am sure they will register as _Animagi _as soon as possible. I'm sure you can make a brief statement to the press explaining their resurection."

"But we don't know how they did it!" He finally exclaimed, indicating the now human Sirius and James.

"And I'm sure the press will take much pleasure from their endevours to find out the truth. For now I will be taking Misters Black and Potter to see their family and friends. Don't you agree they deserve to know before they read about it in the evening news?"

"Yes, yes, of course, I'll owl you if we need anything else?" It sounded like a question, but off Dumbledore's look he continued, "But I'm sure we can manage by ourselves. Have a good day." With that he toddled off out of the room, his Auror (who smiled and shook Sirus' and James' hands) and Griggs (who merely glared at them for giving him more paperwork) folowing.

"Sirius, James, it is truly wonderful to see you alive and well. I know several people who would be overjoyed to see you. We shouldn't keep them waiting, shoud we?" James and Sirius shook their heads and headed out of the holding room, almost apprehensive smiles on their faces.

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Right, that's it for Chapter One, I hope you liked it, hopefull the next chapter should be up by tomorrow or Sunday. Hopefully the next chapter will have some light slash, though it will be getting progressively heavier.

Please review, constructive critisism is welcome and appriciated.

Also, any title suggestions will be taken gratefully.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Any Suggestions?

Summary: James and Sirius get another chance at life, only weeks after Sirius' death. Book 6 disregard. SBJP HPDM.

A/N: I'm disregarding anything that was revealed in book 6 unless I make a particular reference to it. Also this is slash; if you don't like it, don't read it.

Enjoy!

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The trio consisting of Dumbledore, Sirius and James stopped just short of the fireplaces that lined the Entrance Hall of the Ministry of Magic building. Sirius noticed with a smirk that people began to turn towards the recently resurrected pair with looks of curiosity and shock.

"I think it may be better to return to Hogwarts first, so we can what has happened recently before we go back to Headquarters where Harry has been for the past two weeks. I will also send messages out to Order members, informing them of the meeting that will be moved up to tonight. I believe that this is news that requires a lot of our circle to be present. Anyway, the fireplaces at Headquarters are protected, so we couldn't floo directly there anyway, the only grate with direct access is my own."

Sirius and James nodded and followed Dumbledore into the flashing emerald flames, the swirling smoke curling around them for a moment before they were spat out on the rug of Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore seemed unperturbed by the rather abrupt ejection from the fire and strode out gracefully, Sirius did a spectacular cartwheel (managing to avoid the mantle somehow) and landed right next to the chair he intended to sit on. James was less successful and ended up comically sprawled on the rug, glasses askew.

"Would you care for a seat, gentlemen?" Dumbledore asked, dropping into his own winged armchair. James and Sirius took the seats opposite, Sirius ran his fingers over the small engraving in the wood arm reading 'Sirius Black, Marauders Forever', he had in scratched into the mahogany in his seventh year, two days before the end of term. One of the last marks he left on the school.

"Sirius, James, it is excellent to see you alive again, though I am quite curious as to how it happened, I believe it can wait for the Order meeting tonight." He paused for a moment, as if dreading to ask the next question. "James, how much do you know about what has been going on in the Wizarding world since you have been gone?"

James paused. He though back to what Sirius had told him while they were waiting in Limbo.

X Flashback X

The Guardian had just disappeared a few minutes ago, and Sirius and James were sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the stone walls.

"Sirius, what's Harry like, I know he survived, and you said that you died in the fight to rescue him after he'd been tricked into thinking you were in danger, so he sounds like a real Gryffindor, but I don't know anything about him. When did he do his first piece of magic? What was it? When did you get him his first broom? Can he fly? Does he play Quidditch?" James' eyes lit up in excitement at the prospect of his son playing a game he had always loved. Sirius' heart broke at all the things he had missed in Harry's life.

"James, hang on for a moment. I don't know when he did his first bit of magic, I didn't even get him his first broomstick. He does play Quidditch though, rather well in fact. Seeker." His eyes lit up momentarily, remembering the first time he had seen his godson flying. He'd been even better than James.

"James, after Wormtail betrayed us, and…you…died, I was a fucking mess." Sirius' voice rose a few notes. "I couldn't even think straight, I mean, I found your bodies, and I couldn't handle it. And Hagrid took Harry to Dumbledore, so I decided to go after go after Peter alone, and the little bastard got the better of me, he screamed how _I_ betrayed you, then he cut of his finger, blasted the street behind him away, transformed, and scurried away. I was sent to Azkaban. And you have to know Prongs, I'd never betray you," Sirius' voice took on a frantic quality.

"I'd never, I promise, I didn't mean to, I didn't know, I'm so sorry, so so sorry, I thought it was perfect, I though we were perfect, I didn't know you'd die. I never wanted you to die, I love you, I always have, I'm sorry I killed you, I'm so sorry-" Sirius was sobbing hard, his words becoming disjointed, catching on each jagged breath. Tears flooded down his face, dripping down onto the cold floor, where they gathered like pools of liquid pain.

James was at his side, embracing his love in a comforting hug, whispering to him that it wasn't his fault, that he didn't kill him, that there was nothing to blame him for, and that he was sorry that he had to go to Azkaban. Over a half hour of gentle reassurances later, and Sirius had stopped crying, his head was resting on James' lap, long fingers running calmingly through his hair.

"Siri, how long were you in Azkaban for?" James hated himself almost instantly as Sirius inhaled deeply, and almost took the question back with an apology, but Sirius started to speak.

"Eleven years, eight months, and six days, I found out after I escaped. It doesn't really matter exactly how long. The days in there, they just blend together, you see, there's no light there. No windows. Just stone walls and bars that face onto other cells. Other prisoners. I was _lucky_ enough to be opposite Bella."

"I'm so sorry Sirius, really, I am." A pause. "You said you escaped…so people, they still think you did it?"

"Why not? The evidence was rather damming, don't you think? No one even knew we were Animagi, Dumbledore thought I was your secret keeper, and don't forget, I'm a Black." He sighed, and sat up, taking a deep breath. Then sitting next to James, shoulders touching and fingers wrapped together, Sirius began to tell him of everything that he knew about Harry, everything that had happened to him after his escape from Azkaban and the world after James' death. Needless to say it took a while.

"-James, I know it was stupid to go to the Department of Mysteries, but I couldn't leave Harry there. And that house, James, that house was doing what twelve years in Azkaban had failed to. It was driving me crazy."

"I know Siri, I know. I'm sorry you had to go back the house. I promised after you ran away that you'd never have to go back. I'm just so fucking sorry." Anger infused his words. Anger at Molly Weasley for sniping words and disapproving glances. Anger at Snape for sneered insults. Anger at Dumbledore for sending him back to his lover back to his childhood prison. Anger at Remus for thinking Sirius could have _ever_ done sold out to Voldemort. Anger at Peter for his ultimate betrayal.

"It's not your fault. You didn't make that house what it is and you certainly didn't make me go back there." They fell into a heavy silence, each man occupied with his own thoughts.

"What are we going to tell Harry?" Sirius asked after many moments had passed.

"The truth." James replied simply. "What else would we tell him? Do you want to lie to him?"

"No, but what if he doesn't take it well?"

"We'll deal with that when and if we come to it. I'm not starting of my relationship with my son by lying to him. He deserves to know." James finished firmly, looking Sirius directly in the eyes.

"You're right. We should tell him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help…us God." James chucked softly as Sirius raised his right hand to go with the paraphrased swearing-in lines.

"I should never have let you watch those Muggle crime dramas." He stated, remembering how Sirius had claimed that they were good _research_ for his Auror training. Auror training.

"When we get back, you're going to rejoin the Auror squads, aren't you?" James asked, though it was barely a question. More like a resignation to the fact. Sirius had joined the Auror Forces for training (which during the war had only lasted six months) the day after their Hogwarts graduation, while James had decided to start his training as a Healer. James had never liked Sirius occupation, but he completely understood why his lover had chosen it. Also, they had both, along with most of the Gryffindors graduating that year, joined the Order of the Phoenix as soon as possible, to play as much a role as possible in the fight against Voldemort.

"If Moody will have me back, and so long as it's okay with you, then yes, I will." That was the other thing, Sirius was one of the most headstrong and stubborn people to ever enter Hogwarts, but if James adamantly disagreed with him being an Auror, his dream job, he would give it up for him.

James had not yet told him to quit, and he never would, even if it killed them (again), because being an Auror was what Sirius was meant to do, and it would destroy his soul to sit on the sidelines, even if those sidelines involved lots of Order work. Sirius had to be in the middle of it all of the time. James had (somehow) understood that when they met, he had understood that when they got together, he understood that when they decided to live together, and he understood that now, which his why his only response to Sirius' answer was an excepting nod.

X End Flashback X

"Headmaster, I believe Sirius told me everything he knew. I think I am as up to date as he is."

"Oh good, well, there have been quite a few changes in the last two months. The Ministry had finally recognised that Voldemort is indeed alive, and while this is relatively good, Voldemort now sees no reason to keep his activities as secret as before, so the Death Eaters have began attacking again. The Order and Ministry are doing their best to keep it under control, but, well, I don't need to lecture you two on what war does.

"Also, after the battle, the Ministry had to also conclude your innocence, Sirius, and add Mr. Pettigrew to their list of known and active Death Eaters. They were no too pleased with the turn of events.

"To the world at large, that is all that has changed, but when we go to Headquarters, you will no doubt realise there are a more people who have taken up a summer residence.

"Harry, along with Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley and their parents stay there permanently, though I believe the twins, who have been inducted, often remain as well. Also, Lucius Malfoy, who has been a spy for the Order since the first war stays there when not on missions, and his son Draco has moved in for the remainder of the summer." James and Sirius' mouths dropped open at the thought of Lucius Malfoy as a _good guy_.

"Professor," Sirius began, "Are you _sure _that they can be trusted? I was, erm, acquainted with Malfoy when I was a teenager, hell, he married one of my cousins, he never even gave the slightest indication he was anything other that Voldemort-kissing-bastard."

"Sirius, I trust Mr. Malfoy completely, even if I don't wish to disclose why, and as for his son, Draco is implicitly loyal to his father, and anyone else he deems worthy of that loyalty. Wait until you meet the man to pass judgement." Sirius nodded, accepting his former-Headmaster's assessment, for the moment at least.

"Right James, if you could just read this," Dumbledore handed him a piece of paper which had just been written in his own elegant script, detailing the position of Headquarters, "And we can be on out way to Headquarters."

When James had finished reading the scrap of paper and handed it back to Dumbledore, who burned it with a wave of his wand. James looked at Sirius, mentally asking whether or not he was willing to go back to Grimmaud Place. Sirius nodded almost imperceptively and the trio stood, Dumbledore paused as they neared the fire, holding the younger men back for a second.

"I believe I have somethings that belongs to you gentlemen." With a wave of his wand to pieces of polished wood appeared in his hand out of nowhere. James and Sirius instantly recognised them.

"Our wands." James half-whispered in awe, taking his and running a tentative finger along the smooth stick. Sirius was performing a similar examination on his own.

"I thought you might like them back." With that Dumbledore activated that grate with floo powder, and the group stepped in, the Headmaster's voice directing them to Twelve Grimmaud Place.

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Right, this is amazingly late, but my Dad decided to rope me into installing decking the past week, so I haven't had as much time as I'd like to write. Next chapter will be up within the week, hopefully before Monday. As always, I live for reviews, so please, leave a comment, especially if you have a suggestion for a title. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time.


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